Crossing Lines
by baby-kitsune9
Summary: Buffy died in a freak accident, leaving the world open to attack but there was something in the works thanks to the powers that be and another slayer, one from another dimention took her place. how will giles and the scoobies deal with a slayer that is more demon than human? Giles/sort of OC Buffy. M rated.
1. Chapter 1

Buffy-

A mistake.

It had been a mistake to leave Sunnydale after the huge fight with her mother. The one that had ended with her lifegiver finding out that she was the chosen one. The slayer. The one person in all the world that would fight for humanities survival against the forces of darkness promptly before throwing her out on her ass.

And to top everything off- she'd sent the only man that she had ever loved to a hell dimention where he would forever suffer in torment. Of course that had been six months ago when the world itself had come dangerously close to ending.

And since then she had left her home, moved across the state, changed her name to Anne and was currently working at a cozy little diner. She didn't bother calling her mother (because she would just have more to say about her destiny and Buffy didn't feel like listening to more hurtful words), she didn't bother calling Giles _or_ her friends.

She simply wasn't sure how to face them after what had happened with Angel. After all if they hadn't been close to her, they might not have been hurt.

These thoughts had been swirling through her head since the day she had left. They disturbed her concentration at work, disturbed her late at night. And then there was the guilt. The horrible, _horrible_ gut wrenching guilt of just up and leaving everyone and everything that she had ever cared for or loved without so much as a damned note.

She sighed as she stepped out of the diner and onto the sidewalk as she untied her apron and looked up at the night sky. It was nine in the city and the skys were pitch black. Which meant that the big bads were out roaming, maiming and killing the innocent and at the moment she just couldn't bring herself to care that much.

In this moment she wasn't Buffy Summers, vampire slayer. She was just Anne, the waitress who got felt up by pervy old men during her shift. A shift that at this very moment she was very glad was over. If one more man had touched her ass today she would have seriously lost it and broken something off.

Like a hand or something...

She started walking, her keen senses flaring out into the night out of habit. She could hear muggers mugging, some homeless begging for money, food, exct- She could hear the blairing of car alarms as they were broken into. Shaking her head she tried to ignore what her senses told her.

God there was so much evil in the world.

Why was it that she was the only person who had to fight it? To make sacrifices because of it? It wasn't fair!

She paused at the end of the block where the road crossing was and looked both ways thinking that just because she lived in a high traffic area didn't mean that she could ignore common sense. Sometimes cars tore up the streets in the area at night.

Especially when they were driven by drunks or gangs trying to flee a crime scene of some sort.

She saw a large van a ways down the road with the lights on and motor going, but it wasn't moving. Calculating distance times how fast something that weighed about a tone or two could move per second just to be safe, she stepped out into the street believing herself to be safe.

She wasn't very far from the curve when the truck peeled away from the side walk and for some unknown reason found herself pausing in the middle of the road, the vehicle was moving much faster than she had calculated and it was too late for her to try and run back to the curb when it slammed into her with all the force of a ten ton beam. Spattering her blood all over the pavment as her bones broke, her body caught in the grill by one of her hands and was dragged a good twenty feet before it- and she were both slammed into a telephone pole and her body was completely crushed from the neck down.

There was no life flashing before her eyes. No struggling to breathe.

There was nothing but enclosing darkness and the startling revelation that she had just been killed.

And her family and friends may never know it.

(**********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************)

It was over.

Finally after more than four hundred and fifty years of nearly non stop fighting- The evil hords were finally vanquished and they were finally free. Emerald green eyes looked up at the people surrounding their owner. Xan, Willa, and Ripper- Her friends. Her _family_.

The same people as cursed as she. Each one never changing. Never aging.

Cursed with immortality because she hadn't been able to bear losing them and had used her half demon blood in a spell to revive them and make them whole after they had been badly injured and almost killed trying to help her do her job.

"You okay?" Xan asked as he and Ripper helped her to her feet. His one eye looking her over while Ripper wrapped an arm around her slender waist to hold her upright as Willa stepped out of the magic circle that she had used to link with the powers that be so that she could help them heal the earth of it's battle scars, while helping empower Xan and Ripper since they were the ones that had held back a majority of the evil hords.

She looked down at her bloody hands, one of which still holding the first's heart in it and gave it a squeeze. Crushing it then throwing what was left aside. Aside from that, her wounds didn't matter. They would heal just like they always did. "I'm fine. Head count."

"Come now, you can see us. Why do a head count if you know that we're already here?" Ripper half joked as Xan helped Willa step over a few bodies.

"Comfort." She replied in a strained tone. The center of her chest suddenly feeling tight, making her feel breathless and weak. She staggered slightly and Ripper tightened his grip around her waist when her legs nearly gave out.

"Well we're all here, babe." Willa said as she stepped up to her and slipped one of her arms around her her waist to help Ripper as she croaked.

"The earth?"

"Is healing itself up nicely thanks to the magicks. By this time tomorrow there should be trees and flowers sprouting up again. Isn't that cool?" Willa rambled for a few moments before Ripper cut in.

"Well if that's true how about Xan and I bring you the first new flower we find. Hm?"

"S-Sounds nice." She said as the tightness in her chest intensified and a chill shot down her spine. Something was wrong. Something was very very wrong. And not in the usual _the-world-may-very-well-end_ sort of way. No this was something else entirely. She could tell by the steadily spreading fire in her veins.

By how hard it was to breathe. By how weak she suddenly felt.

Her vision faded to black for a moment and she caught a glimpse of someone- a blonde with her face, being crushed to death by a heavy, van. Her body caught between thick broken wood and a twisted, blood spattered grill. Her eyes staring blankly ahead. Lifeless and unseeing.

Her senses returned just long enough to realize that she was laying on the floor of the cave they had fought in, among the bodies of the damned with Ripper, Xan and Willa all staring down at her with concerned/horrified expressions on their faces as she screamed and felt her body go up in what felt like hellfire as she disappeared.


	2. Chapter 2

Giles woke up on his couch after hearing a thud of something hitting his front door and jacknifed upright blinking bleary eyes as reached for the nearest weapon that was handy and found himself holding the black onyx paper weight that Xander, Buffy and Willow had picked out for his birthday just weeks before Buffy had left Sunnydale and frowned at the object as he slowly got to his feet.

Trying not to make noise so that he didn't alert the person or thing outside to the fact that he was now up and wide awake.

Though the piece of stone was heavy and fit his grip well enough it would be no match for a demon if it was laying in wait for him outside. Although he supposed that he could just throw it at the demon's head and run like hell up stairs to his weapon's chest.

There was another thud, this time a little bit louder and he felt his heart slam against his ribs as his door rattled on it's hinges this time. Good lord, what was out there must be strong. Even he couldn't rattle the door like that without slamming it hard enough to damage the heavy wood.

Slowly making his way around the couch and across the floor, he paused well out of reach of his door.

After all he'd been attacked enough to know that once he was close enough, the door would swing open and he'd be knocked across the room and then he'd wind up without a weapon. And that was the last thing he needed right now- There was another thud followed by a pained cry and everything in him froze and went cold to his core.

Oh dear god, someone was outside! Possibly being attacked!

Rushing forward he grasped the knob and jerked the door open and blinked at the blinding sunlight that hit him square in the face and prayed that his eyes would adjust before something happened. But once his eyes adjusted and he had the chance to look around- there was no demon on his doorstep. No monster waiting to rip him apart.

There was however a young woman laying on his doorstep on her side, right at his feet. Her clothing was covered in blood and her skin discolored with bluish, black and purple bruises.

Dropping the onyx stone he dropped to his knee next to the- well he assumed that she was between the ages of seventeen and twenty- though she was a might on the smallish and petite side, and reached out and brushed back the mid back length chocolate colored hair obscuring his vision of her features and started to open his mouth to speak when his breath caught in his throat.

_Oh my god- _He thought as he reached out tenatively to touch the familiar face of his lost slayer and felt her skin.

It was warm to the touch and though she wasn't moving he could almost feel her breathing even without placing his hand near her face of chest. His chest started to ache as his eyes misted over and he slowly, carefully took stock of her injuries before running back inside to grab his phone and call an ambulance for her.

(********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************)

An hour later-

Giles was sitting in the waiting room when Joyce Summers, Buffy's mother- and several other familiar figures came running through the front door to the waiting room. Each of their expressions holding a touch of hope, trepridation, and other things that were best not to dwell upon at the moment.

"Is it true? Is Buffy back?" Willow asked in a rush, beating Joyce to the punch as Giles slowly stood and hugged Willow who had become a little bit clingy since Buffy had left. He suspected that it was a sort of habit that she had had before Buffy left and had simply transferred her clingyness from the slayer to him because he was closest at hand.

Not that he minded all that much.

He _adored_ these kids. They and Buffy had swept into his life like a hurricane and knocked down every barrier that he'd erected. Reminding him that he was more than just a Watcher. He was a human being. And Buffy for all her gifts, was human as well.

Creating a deep bond of kinsmanship between them all.

"I believe it's her. I mean she's changed her look a bit, her hair is a dark brown and she was hurt fairly badly. But the face... I could never mistake her face and _that_ was definitely Buffy's face I saw." Giles said, hoping to god that he wasn't wrong. Because he knew that it would kill them all if he was.

"If you say that you believe that the girl you found is Buffy then I believe you." Joyce said with a small smile before asking, "How long have they had her back there?"

"A while. They said something about maybe needing to do a few scans and check her for internal bleeding... S-She was pretty badly hurt." Giles said as he took his glasses off and polished them like he always did when he was feeling awkward or uncomfortable.

He was in the middle of cleaning one of his lenses when he noticed that he had dried blood on his shirt from where he had lifted Buffy and helped put her in the ambulance earlier, and paused.

It hadn't occurred to him until now, but what if he had accidentally done more harm than good? The thought in itself was horrifying. "Where is that damned doctor?" Xander growled impatiently as he shifted nervously from foot to foot over by Willow and Joyce.

Joyce started fidgeting herself while Willow bit her lip and looked around while muttering under her breath about anything and everything however unintelligible. They must have stood around for what was another thirty to forty minutes before someone came out of the ER to speak with them.

They all listened to the exstent of Buffy's injuries and marveled at the fact that she was even alive. They were told that she would need complete bed rest until her wounds healed before the doctor asked to talk to Joyce alone and pulled her aside for a moment.

Walking a little ways down the hall until they were out of earshot before delivering the news that her daughter had sustained some sort of brain damage a while back and may not remember her.

Giles and the others stood there, watching and saw the look of horror on Joyce's ashen face, mere moments before she shrieked. "What do you mean she may not remember me? I'm her mother!" The doctor reached out and started to place his hands on her shoulders and she slapped his hands away and started crying as crumbled to the floor.

_"What happened to my baby?" _

(*********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************)

She awoke slowly, her eyes flitting open to the shock of eggshell white hanging over her head and frowned. The last time she had seen eggshell white- it had been burning, the smells of smoke and blood mixing together in her nose. The sounds of slaughter sounding in her ears.

She blinked her eyes and tried not to start crying. The last time she had seen eggshell white had been when she was a child. No more than ten and already answering her calling in life.

The last time she had seen eggshell white she had been convinced that she was in hell. Now she was worried that history was doomed to repeat itself. And that in itself is what scared her.

She bolted upright and looked down at herself in confusion when she felt a slightly painful twinge in one of her arms and looked down to see clear tape attached to a needle stuck in her arm, and promptly ripped it out then started to get off of the lumpy surface that she had been laying on when suddenly she was surrounded by people.

All of whom were uncomfortably grabby with her person.

"Buffy! What are you doing trying to get out of bed? You're hurt! Lay down?" A red headed girl with shoulder length hair who looked like Willa yet wasn't, placed her hands on her shoulders and pushed her gently back depite the fact that she was straining to get up.

The second her back was against the bed some others leaned over her, one was an attractive woman in her forties with curly blond hair and wide concerned blue eyes. And next to her was a man who looked like Ripper, yet a little younger. Maybe by ten years or so.

And next to him was a dark haired young man that she distinctly recognized as Xan, but he had two- yes _two_- brown eyes instead of _one_ icey blue. She didn't know what was going on or where she was but the more the people crowded around her, the more everything hurt. Her body, her head, her organs, even her teeth seemed as if they had just been jarred by something within.

She lifted a hand to touch the girl who looked like her Willa and let her finger tips brush the girl's red hair when she an agonizing sensation between her eyes and quickly put her hands to her head and screamed, startling/alarming the people around her, as all thoughts of Willa, Ripper and Xan were ripped from her mind.


	3. Chapter 3

The next time she became aware of something, it was an annoying sort of beeping sound coming from next to where she lay. The people were gone. Or at least gave her the impression that they were due to the fact that no one was hovering over her anymore. But she could detect someone other than her_ breathing _in the room, though she couldn't see whom it was.

She groaned and tried to swallow past the cottony feeling in her mouth and slowly tried turned her head to the side, trying to see if she could locate the other in the room and groaned again when her head throbbed and her stomach lurched dangerously.

Making her feel as if she was going to throw up the last thing she had eaten. She shifted, trying to turn onto her side when suddenly someone was standing next to her, well within reaching distance. She went still and looked up and saw the man from earlier- the one who looked like- she frowned slightly, unable to recall and looked at the man standing over her. Looking at her with an concerned expression on his face.

"Buffy? Are you alright? Do you need anything?" The man asked hesitantly.

She frowned again, her mind unable to process what he'd just called her. But after a moment or so of trying to process she finally managed to let out an strained, scratchy little laugh. Buffy? Seriously? That couldn't possibly be her name, could it?

Who in the thirteen circles of hell would name their child Buffy? It was such a ridiculous name! She thought as her amusement died down and she noted that he was looking at her strangely as he picked up a small plastic cup. And then grabbed a pitcher on the little table next to her bed and poured her some water then pressed the cup into one of her hands then slipped an arm under her shoulders and pulled her upright a little bit so that she could drink it.

Once that was done he gently lowered her back down onto the bed and set the empty plastic cup down on the table and said softly. "Your mother went down to get something to eat with Willow and Xander, just in case you're wondering."

She blinked at him but didn't say anything.

She was too busy thinking; _Ah, so that's who those strange people are_. But it didn't explain why she couldn't recall anything of them. Or why they thought they knew her. "Do you remember anything from the past six months?" The man asked almost cautiously as he slowly pulled his seat closer to the bed and sank back down into it.

She thought for a moment and could only shake her head slowly. "Who are you?" She asked, her voice scratchy. Her tone curious.

He looked startled- or maybe he was stricken- by her question. She didn't know exactly. She had never been all that good at reading people. "I-I'm Giles. Rupert Giles. Your watcher... Buffy don't you remember me at all?" He asked in an alarmed tone, his pale green eyes searching for some trace of recognition within her own.

He found none.

And in doing so recoiled as if he'd been slapped by her and quickly looked away so in an effort to hide the hurt in his eyes as he stuttered, "O-Oh. I-I-I see..." He fell silent for a moment then turned back to her and said, "Well, no worries. You're here. Alive and well and we've all...missed you terribly as I'm sure that you noticed earlier."

"Overwhelming-" She said out loud without realizing. The whole group was overwhelming. The man, Giles, gave her a wide eyed look as his expression flitted from amused to confused. He didn't understand why she would say such a thing. And to be honest, she didn't really understand why she had said what she had said either.

All she knew was that it was true.

The group was overwhelming to her with the way they hovered and carried on. After a moment or so of silence Giles gave a small chuckle and looked at her, his pale green eyes sparkling with amusement. "T-They are a mite overwhelming I suppose. But they care about you. I care about you-" He reached out and smoothed some of her dark hair away from her face as he changed the subject.

"The doctor's said that you had sustained some sort of brain damage at some point a while back. Do you remember anything about how that happened?" Again she shook her head no.

She didn't know anything about brain damage. Or doctors.

Come to think of it she hadn't even asked where she was yet.

"Where am I?"

"You're in the hospital. You were rather beat up when I found you earlier this morning."

"I worried you." It wasn't a question. Just a simple statement of fact. Giles nodded his head.

Of course she had worried them. She had disappeared into thin air without a trace without leaving a note, a forwarding address or anything to explain where she had gone off too or that they shouldn't worry and had just shown up out of the blue with brain damage and memory problems that were a _severe_ cause for concern to himself, her mother and her friends.

Dear lord did she even recall being the slayer? He wondered, feeling slightly panicked because he wasn't sure that he'd be able to protect her if that was the case. He was about to ask her if she recalled anything about being the slayer when the door across the room opened and Willow and Xander stepped in carrying some styrophoam boxes while speaking in hushed tones.

But all of their hushed speaking stopped when they looked towards the bed and saw that she was awake. "Buffy! You're awake!" The red head cried happily as she thrust her box into the grasp of the young man next to her and all but threw herself across the room.

She braced herself, thinking that it might be for the best since they were all touchy feely and couldn't seem to hide her relief when Giles caught the red head before she could reach her and hissed in her ear, "Speak in softer tones. And for the love of god _stop_ rushing her. We have no idea what she's been through and on top of that she doesn't remember us. Rushing her is a good way to get your neck broken!"

The red head blanched a little bit and started babbling in a low tone. "Oh! _Oh._ S-Sorry, I didn't- I-It's just that we missed you so much and-"

"Calm down Willow-" The young man said as he walked over and set a box down in her lap then placed a spork, fork, and a few other things on top of it and winked at her. "Buffy's alive and well and once she's healed you can hug her and glue yourself to her side as much as you like." He said before speaking to her.

"We got you some food from the cafeteria- ya know the good stuff. Some mashed potato's, and jello just in case you don't feel well enough to eat solids. And a piece of cheese pizza and a chicken leg just in case you do."

"Thank you." She rasped as she moved the plastic eating utensils out of the way and opened the box, her mouth watering as her stomach clenched painfully as she tried to recall the last time she actually ate anything. The pain in her stomach told her that it had been a while. But she was unsure weather it had merely been hours or days.

She couldn't recall her usual habits.

The young man, Xander, handed another box to Giles whom smiled at the younger man. Obviously grateful that the two hadn't forgotten him in their quest for food as Willow said. "Your mom is eating downstairs at the moment and will be back once she talks to your doctor again. I think that she's trying to get him to release you early so she can do the whole mothering thing."

She frowned as she took a small bite of potato's and swallowed before asking, "Mothering thing?" She didn't know what the red head was referring too. The three looked at her wide eyed as the dark haired young man said in amusement,

"You know, the mothering thing. When your mom takes you home, tucks you into bed and feeds you soup and grilled cheese until your ready to pop."

"Sounds like an odd ritual to endure." She said with no hint of uncertainty. It really did sound like an odd ritual to her.

"Well, yeah. But it's the way that all mothers show that they care."

"Why?"

"Because your mom gave birth to you. Ergo she is attached to you emotionally." She frowned again, not understanding the concept behind 'mothers' and wondered why it was that she didn't understand when these people obviously did. Deciding that silence was the better part of valor, she threw herself into finishing her food while listening to snippets of conversation from the other three.

"Okay so Buffy doesn't know her mother. Doesn't seem to even know us- Probably doesn't even know what a slayer is. Is anyone here getting a bit scared at the possible _repercussions_ of her not knowing?" Xander said in a slightly high pitched tone as he looked to the other two.

Both Willow and Giles gave him a silencing look then glanced over at her and awkwardly smiled and wiggled their fingers at her. "Of course we're worried too Xander but it isn't like we can force her to patrol the streets in her current condition. It would be cruel." Giles said in a rough tone before Willow added her two cents to the conversation.

"That and it might get her, ya know, killed."

"I know that!" Xander almost shouted at them before softening his voice again. "But in her current condition she would be easy pickings for the forces of darkness. Not only that, but she can't protect us either. Which at the same time makes us easy pickings too."

"True. But again, we can't send her out to do her duty as she is _now_." Giles said again.

"Then what do we do? I mean, what if Buffy never regain's her memories?" Willow asked nervously. Giles frowned, the expression marring his handsome face.

"Well there is probably another slayer...uh, due to the fact that she has died once already. We'll just have to figure out everything else as we go along." Giles said as he sat back in his seat and tried to make himself comfortable without spilling his dinner in his lap.

Of course her lack of memories didn't mean that Buffy wouldn't still be a target. She would _always_ be a target. However the Watcher had no intention of burying his charge no matter her condition.

He would protect Buffy with his life.


	4. Chapter 4

Which was why he stayed with Buffy at the hospital even after Joyce (whom had to work in the morning) Willow and Xander (both of whom were still getting ready for school which was starting in another day or so) left to do a little bit of patroling before going home for the night.

He was sitting in his seat next to her bed doing a cross word to occupy his mind when he heard the mattress squeak and looked over at Buffy who was still wide awake from the looks of things. "Buffy, you're awake. Do you need anything?" He asked as he slowly lowered his crossword book.

She blinked at him and looked a little uncomfortable and for a moment he wondered if she was about to ask for help to the bathroom when she finally opened her mouth and asked softly. "Is my name really Buffy?"

Giles snorted and felt his lips twitch slightly at her question as he closed his book and set it and his pen, aside. "For as long as I've known you it has been. Why do you ask?"

"I don't like the name. It sounds like the sort of name a dog would have." She said and he had to cough several times just to keep from laughing at her comment. Buffy really was an silly name for a person. He had thought so the day he had met her, when she had first come to Sunnydale. However to keep from offending her, he had kept his opinion to himself.

After all, one didn't offend their slayer unless one wanted to spend some nice quality time in the hospital. Still... If Buffy didn't like her name- Then until she was herself again, perhaps she could be called by a different name.

One that_ didn't_ sound like it belonged to a poodle.

"Well since you can't recall who you are, and it might distress you to continue being called Buffy- Then why don't you pick a name to go by until you're better. Something less...er, doggish." He said, and inwardly cringed at his last few words as she stared unblinkingly at him with her dark green eyes for a moment.

She was quiet for another moment or so then sighed and muttered. "Eve."

"Pardon?"

"My name for now- It should be Eve."

"Eve, hm. That's a rather nice and old fashioned-"

"It's the name that the first passed down through the generations since the beginning." She said quietly as she shifted on the bed a loittle more and glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes and caught the confused frown on his face. He had no idea what she was talking about or _why_ the name Eve had been chosen.

She inwardly snorted and pulled the bed covers up a little higher and settled herself so that only her eyes and the top of her head were peeking out from under the covers.

It was probably just as well that he didn't understand since Eve was the name of the _first_ woman ever created by 'god'.

What people didn't know was that almost all of the females on the planet were just fake creatures. Mere ghosts given flesh and blood form in one way or another. It was only Eve's direct decendants- It was only her _true_ daughters who carried the responsibilities of carrying on her name, of being slayers.

Of course the rules may have changed due to the fact that she still didn't know where she was or why she was there. But for the time being she would continue her true mother's name and see what happened.

She watched Giles sigh and shake his head and settle back in his chair and pick up his crossword again and wanted to say something else. But she was feeling tired. More tired than she had ever felt before in a long, long time. Closing her eyes she sighed softly, her mind already shutting down. And within moments she was asleep again.

(***********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************)

Giles waited until he detected the change in Buff- er, Eve's breathing patterns, indicating sleep before setting his crossword aside again and slowly getting up out of his seat. Something about the way she had spoken had triggered an alarm in his mind.

Eve- was a biblical name. The name of the mother of all humanity. But the way Buff- _Oh, stop doing that! _He snapped to himself mentally. For the time being her name was Eve.

_E-V-E! _And he would need to remember or he might cause her more harm than good. Still...

The way she had spoken about the name suggested that it had deeper meaning. What that meaning was or could be, he had no clue. But he could call the council and ask for any information that they had on the name. He slipped out of the room stealthily, trying not to disturb Eve now that she was resting and quietly closed the door behind him as he pulled his cell phone from his pants pocket and flicked it open.


	5. Chapter 5

Shortly after placing a call to the council to ask if they had any information on 'Eve' or 'the first' Giles was more than a little curious/perturbed to discover that his slayer had stumbled onto something that the council had been keeping hidden with the use of _incredibly_ strong magicks.

Which may have had something more to do with her memory loss than anything else. So to say that he was worried about Buff-er Eve, would be an understatment of epic preportions.

Knowing the council like he did, the moment that they found out that his slayer knew something...they would seek to remove her. Slayer or not.

Slipping back into the hospital room, he quietly moved over to the bed to check the IV drip and to pull the covers which had slipped down some- up around Eve's shoulders so that she wouldn't take a chill and then moved back to his seat and settled in again.

All while wondering if he should take Eve and run. Perhaps hide her somewhere where he could better protect her. Somewhere like his country estate in England, maybe?

_No, no, no_. He couldn't do that. At least not without informing Joyce and the others of what was going to happen first. And even then, he wouldn't be able to remove her from the states without her mother's permission.

To do otherwise, even to save Eve's life- was nothing more than kidnapping.

He sat there in the semi darkness for hours, watching Eve sleep. The soft lull of her breathing making him smile a little bit despite everything.

His slayer. His amazing, beautiful, miracle of a slayer- It still sort of tripped him up inside to see her face and how much she had changed over the past six months.

Her hair was just a little bit shorter, the tips curling as if a razor had been taken to it, the color nothing like her trademark honey blonde. Her skin was paler. Her eyes had dark circles under them from what he thought was a lack of proper rest.

She'd lost a little weight, though her body was still as temptingly curved as it had always been. Not that he was looking or anything. Because looking was wrong. Very _wrong_.

But it was a thing of beauty and some part of his mind couldn't help but recognize it as such. Even if it was in just a guilty capasity.

It wasn't long until soft rays of orangish, pink and yellow light began to filter through the thick white curtain covering the window, the colorful display playing across Eve's features.

Giving her an otherworldly beautiful look. Almost like an elf or pixie.

Making his fingers itch to run along the curve of her cheek. To bury his fingers in her silken hair and feel it slip between his fingers.

He started to reach out when she turned over onto her back and made a pained face in her sleep and started to put a hand on her forehead like he used too whenever she was hurt, but the door to her room creaked open and he drew his hand back so quickly that he threw himself completely off balance in his seat and flailed around for a second- attempting to keep from falling.

But still somehow found himself and his chair of the floor, staring up at Joyce Summers whom was looking down at him with a questioning look on her face. "Giles?"

"Oh, hello Joyce. How are you?"

Joyce frowned at him and shifted the bag she held in her hand and reached down to help him up with the other as she gave him a confused look and asked. "You stayed here all night?"

"Yes. I felt it necessary since it's a public building and all... That and Xander and Willow are prepairing for school to start."

"Oh Giles, I'm so sorry. This must be such a bother to you." Joyce said as he took her hand and let himself be pulled up.

"No, no, not at all. I'm happy to be here." Giles said as he let go of her hand and then leaned down and set the chair he'd been in to rights then looked down at the plastic bag in Joyce's hand and asked.

"Do you mind if I ask what-" Joyce who had been looking at her daughter up until he had spoken again, blinked as she snapped out of it and realized that Giles was trying to politely ask what she had in the bag she'd brought for Buffy without seeming nosey.

"Oh, no. It's a few things I grabbed from the house this morning. I thought that since her memory is messed up that maybe something in this bag might trigger something if she was exposed to it. So I grabbed her favorite sun dress. For just in case the doctors let her go home today-"

"And just in case they didn't I also grabbed a stuffed animal or two- Meow-cat and Rabby. I also brought her some reading material just in case she gets bored just sitting around doing nothing."

Joyce handed Giles the bag and let him go through it, knowing that he would feel the need to do so anyways now that Buffy was back and in a bad way and this was his way of protecting her daughter from harm.

"Has she been sleeping long?" Joyce asked after Giles was done and put everything back in the bag and set it next to his chair before answering.

"Not really, no. She dozed off in the wee hours of the morning after we spoke for a little while."

"Did she remember anything?"

"No. She did however express to me that she strongly disliked the name Buffy-" Joyce looked at him with a peculiar expression on her face as he said while trying his best to keep a straight face. "She thinks the name Buffy is better suited to a poodle. So she decided that we should call her Eve... At least until her memories return."

"Oh. Oh well that makes sense. The doctor said that since her memory is on the fritz that she should think of a new way to establish an identity." Joyce said as he brushed Eve's dark hair back from her face causing the girl to stir slightly and murmer something under her breath.

Joyce held herself perfectly still for a moment, part of her mind telling her not to wake her baby. That Buffy needed her rest to get well again and waited until her daughter settled before moving again.

This time to remove her hand before her daughter woke up and ripped it off at the wrist and looked at Giles who was watching the exchange with a hint of fascination that she found intriquing.

Never one to miss a chance to tease the watcher, Joyce decided to ask a question in a slightly serious capasity. "Giles, do you want kids of your own?"

Giles blinked and looked startled by her question for a moment before blushing to the roots of his hair and sputtered. "W-W-Wha? N-No! N-N-Never!"

"You are _so_ lying." Joyce said with a little grin. Giles looked horrified for a few seconds then finally sighed and said.

"You're right. I do want children some day. Why do you ask?"

"It's because I sometimes see the way you look at her. The way you watch the way I interact with her. It makes me think that your mind is trying to soak up certain things for future reference."

Giles was quiet for a moment, not quite sure how to respond to her words. Though he did suppose that she was right to a degree. He did sort of make a point to _watch_ certain exchanges between Buffy and Joyce. Though he usually did so in a covert way so as not to get caught.

He hadn't wanted questions asked that he couldn't or wouldn't want to answer. After all, why would he want to speak of why he watched Joyce and Buffy interact so closely when it only served to remind him of how he had been neglected and shunned by his own parents when growing up.

Something that he had decided long ago that he would never do to his own children if he were ever lucky enough to have them. But then again he searched for other things in Joyce's interactions with Buffy as well.

Excuses. Excuses, all of them.

But why alert the woman to his ulterier motives when she had remained blissfully unaware for so long.

And as long as he didn't detect any signs of physical or emotional abuse from Buffy, he felt no real need to clue Joyce in to the fact that he'd kill her and take Buffy far, far away from Sunnydale and leave everyone else in the damned town to die screaming.


	6. Chapter 6

Joyce hadn't been able to stay long due to the fact that she had had to work. But she had been kind enough to give him her cell number, which once she had been out of the room he had promptly glanced at then crumbled in his fist and thrown away. He understood her need to know that Eve was well.

Truly he did.

But he knew about the fight Joyce had had with Buffy before she had left town. He knew about the horrible things that had been said and while he knew that she hadn't been able to understand her daughter and had reacted badly to learning that she was a slayer-

He didn't think Eve should be left in her presence for long since Joyce might do or say something that could be even more damaging to her heart and mind.

So if she was released from the hospital as Joyce hoped, he'd be removing her to his home. And Joyce wanted to come and visit her daughter, she could damn well do it where he could wrap his fingers around her throat if she crossed the line again. There was a knock on the door and he looked towards it as a nurse peeked in and smiled at him.

"How's everything in here?" She asked as she slipped in carrying a tray of what smelled like scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, and biscuits slathered in white gravey. He gave the woman a tight lipped smile, trying to ignore the way his stomach clenched as she put the tray down on the tiny movable table then stood back for a moment.

"Everything is fine. She's resting at the moment." He finally said as the woman picked up Eve's chart and looked at it.

"Yes, I can see that. She must be really worn out not to stir at the smell of food."

Giles bit back a small laugh. Buffy had never been the type of girl easily motivated to wake when she had been resting. She tended to sleep deeper then most people he'd ever seen before. A small part of being the slayer of all things that went bump in the night, he supposed.

"Not to worry, I've seen this before. She'll wake up in a bit and eat then flop down and start snoozing again." Giles said as the woman moved a bit closer to Eve's bedside and checked her IV then did something with the plastic cording and asked.

"Has she shown any signs of being in pain?"

"No."

"Well that's good. Most people who come to us looking as if they've been at war-"

Gile's eyes widened slightly as he perked up in his seat, his mind whirling. "War? What war? What are you talking about?"

The nurse looked at him for a moment and stopped writing in the file and looked uncomfortable for a moment. "Uh...I'm taking it that no one told you."

He narrowed his eyes at her and growled in an impatient tone. _"Told me what?"_ Again the woman looked uncomfortable. In fact she looked on the verge of bolting out the door. Not that Giles would give her the chance. Not when she obviously knew something that he didn't.

"S-Some of h-h-her in-injuries- T-T-They're con-consistant w-with t-torture..." The woman said as he slowly got to his feet. Taking the action as a threat of some kind she then hastily tried to assure him that a majority of the wounds, while several weeks fresh, were also healing up nicely.

Not that he found any solace in the fact that his slayer had been held somewhere and purposely wounded by some sadistic bastard hell bent on breaking or even killing her.

He looked at his slayer, still resting undesturbed on the room's only bed despite the fact that the nurse's voice had raised a bit in her panic and felt bile rise in his throat. _Dear god-_ He might have never seen her again if she hadn't somehow escaped the one/ones who had been hurting her.

She could have died again. This time for good.

And he never would have known it. He never would have found her no matter how far he went or how much he looked.

The thought in itself was terrifying. So much so that he found the nearest waste basket and spent a good ten minutes emptying his stomach, giving the nurse the chance she needed to run.

(*******************************************************************************************************************************************)

Eve was having a strange dream. One where the human race still walked the streets in hordes, couples held hands and kissed, children ran and played while laughing.

There were tall buildings made of steel, glass, stone and glittering lights.

Vehicles that were called, cars, were driven over smooth stone streets with people inside. It was a fascinating sight to behold since for as long as she could remember, the human population had dwindled to practically nothing.

And by nothing she meant that in all the world, only three hundred people had continued to live in every hemisphere of the globe. That was it. No more lived. They had all been eaten or turned into demons or simply killed for fun.

No one walked the streets at night. Or even during the day since some monsters simply didn't sleep when they should.

There was little food, even less water- no room for children were allowed to be born because there was nothing that the adults could spare if they wanted to survive. And they did want to survive. They wanted to survive so desperately that they would kill eachother just to gain an extra day to live.

The only reason Eve had survived as a child among the animals that had called themselves 'human' had been because Ripper had stopped the other adults from killing her once he found out that she was the slayer.

From that point on he had trained and taught her everything from combat, to magic, to the histories of all races. And once he had finished she had ceased being a mere child or human, she had become the last fighting chance that humans had left.

A weapon to preserve what was left in the hopes that one day the earth would belong to human beings again.

She looked around a bit, exploring the depths of her dream with a child like curiosity. She didn't understand _why_ she was here. She didn't even know _where_ here was. And just when she was starting to wonder if she would ever figure things out, she found herself standing next to a vehicle with red flashing lights and orange colored writings on it and frowned a little bit as she walked around the side and stopped.

There was another vehicle, this one a huge white and silver and it was facing a thick wooden pole. There was a presence there. She could feel it as something tugged at her mind.

This place looked familiar. But she couldn't recall from where. Moving forward just a bit more she suddenly jumped when a man nearly bumped into her as he and another man carried what looked like a black plastic bagover to the white and orange vehicle.

Turning her head she looked towards the monster sized one and frowned again as she noticed that it was pulled back a little bit from the pole and the front was smeared with a scarlet red liquid that carried the coppery scent of blood. And standing just a few inches from the scarlet smeared metal-

Was a young woman with shoulder length honey blonde hair and sad pale green eyes. Eve stared at the young woman for a moment, not quite realizing what she was looking at until it occurred to her that she had seen this young woman before.

_"So we meet at last, slayer Eve..."_

Eve's eyes widened a little bit in shock as she took a shakey breath. "Y-You! You have my face!"

The blonde gave her a wry smile. _"And you have mine. But's that neither here nor there. I haven't got much time left so I thought we'd spend it having a little chat. Do you mind?"_

Eve was speechless for a second as the young woman moved towards her slowly, appearing to be walking despite the fact that her body was transparent from the chest down. "You're dead?" Eve finally said, though it sounded more like a question to the blonde.

_"Yes.."_


	7. Chapter 7

Buffy walked with Eve for a while, her head occasionally turning to look at various people or objects as they talked. She was pretty sure that she had covered some of the major stuff. Like the _who_'s, and the _why_'s of Eve's sudden appearance in her world.

It was because Buffy herself could no longer escape fate. The powers that be simply wouldn't allow it. So they had killed her and found a new slayer- one better equiped for the upcoming battles against the never ending darkness.

Someone who knew how badly things would become if she perished and left the world undefended. A slayer of unparalleled strength and ability. Someone who could use her demon abilities as well as magical ones.

Frankly Buffy thought that Eve was a bit..._off_.

Not in a bad way. She just seemed more childlike than Buffy had expected. And while it was all well and good to preserve one's innocence, it also left one open to being corrupted.

She looked over at the other woman and wondered if maybe the childlike side of her personality was something that Eve had developed because of her demon abilities. Or if maybe it was because of something else entirely. Either way, she was a little bit relieved. And worried.

Relieved that Eve's childlike personality would allow her to become attached to her new home, it's people, and Buffy's watcher and friends. Relieved that Eve's attachment would allow her to fight as fiercely for this world as she had for her own.

And she was worried because Eve's attachments would only go so far. She may now be living Buffy's life- With a mother, friends, and watcher to have her back, but she would always long for her own home. Her own friends. Her own world.

Buffy glanced down at herself and saw that she was barely there anymore and then looked back at Eve. "Any last requests?" The brunette asked sagely. Seriously.

For once all traces of her childlike self was gone and the change in her was so startling that for a moment all Buffy could do was stare in shock before she finally managed to pull herself together just enough to manage a small smile as she said, _"Take care of them as if they were your own..."_

"Anything else?" Eve asked, sensing that there was something else that Buffy wanted to say.

_"Just live as best as you can and be happy..." _

(*****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************)

"What-" Cordelia practically shrieked as she looked back and forth from her boyfriend Xander to Willow who was partially hiding behind her boyfriend Oz with a wide eyed look of horror on her face. "Buffy's back in town! How? Since when?" Cordelia asked as she rudely invaded everyone's personal space.

Xander glanced down and back at Oz and Willow and felt Oz's hand on his back, giving him a small push forward as the red head said, "Hey man, she's your girl."

"Gee thanks." Xander said sarcastically before turning to face his girl. "First off let me just say this, we don't know when Buffy got back into town. Secondly, she's in the hospital-"

Cordelia huffed and said, "Great. So she's back in town. That's fantastic because it means that we don't have to cover for her sorry butt anymore."

Xander and Willow both gaped at the diva in horror and outrage. How could she just go and say that without knowing what Buffy had been through? It wasn't like the slayer had left town just for giggles for christs sake! She had left because of deep emotional wounds and because she had felt that, like her mother, they wouldn't want her around anymore.

"Cordy!" Xander growled, both furious and embarrassed by his girlfriends lack of sensitivity. Cordelia blinked at him for using his, _I-will-hurt-you-bad_ tone with her and was about to take him down a few pegs when Xander cut her off. "Buffy is in no condition to fight right now. She may not be in any condition to_ fight_ later-"

"Why the hell not?"

"Because her memory isn't functioning like it should, Cordy! She doesn't know her mom. She doesn't know Giles or me or Willow. What makes you think she can slay anything in such a state? Are you really so selfish that you would send someone to possibly die for you when they may not even_ remember_ or _know_ how to defend themselves?"

Again Cordelia blinked then opened her mouth and said. "Oh whatever Xander. She could just not feel like fighting-"

"We were there Cordy! We heard the doctor tell her mom that she had braindamage of some kind!"

"So? She's like a retard now?" Xander gave his girlfriend such a look of pure rage that she should have spontaniously combusted on the spot. Even Oz took a step or so back away from the normally lovable goof, dragging Willow with him because he was uncertain of what Xander would do.

Not that he was terribly worried about Xander raising his hand to Cordy. He simply wasn't the type to hit a lady no matter how mad he was. But that didn't mean that he wouldn't lash out in other ways.

(*************************************************************************************************************************************************************)

It was about noon when Eve finally stirred and started to wake from her sleep and in the past few hours Giles had been wracking his brain. Trying hard to figure out how much Eve must have suffered and just how miraculous it was that she was not only home again, but still breathing..._period_.

He heard the bed squeak and looked over at her as her eyes fluttered and opened. She glanced at him and groaned as she shoved the covers back so that she could rub her eyes. "Morn'in..." She rasped in a husky tone.

"Good morning Eve." Giles forced himself to say before asking. "Are you hungry? A nurse was nice enough to bring you breakfast several hours ago."

Eve shook her head no. She had long outgrown any real need for human food thanks to her demon half. No, she could live longer on life energy.

She had used to feed from Ripper whenever she got hungry, which was every four to six months. And since taking life energy was tricky business that often left the person being fed from feeling a wide variety of things ranging from weakness in the knee to arousal, which got awkward fast when you came into your demon abilities as a young teen.

So she had adapted her body so that she didn't have to feed often. If only to avoid strange and embarrassing situations while with Ripper since he had been twenty five years older than her.

Moving her hands away from her eyes, she quickly estimated how long it had been since she last fed and how long it would take for her to need to feed again.

Five in a half months. She had at least five in a half months until she would need to feed again. She was so engrossed with her own thoughts that she didn't seem to hear Giles ask her if she was okay...four or five times before he moved over to her bed and very gently framed her face in his hands to draw her attention to him.

The warmth of his skin against her own snapped her from her thoughts just enough to blink up at him before giggling. "Sorry. I was thinking."

He gave her a small smile, relieved that she was finally responding to him again. He'd been really worried there for a second that she had gone to a really dark place in her own mind. Perhaps where she relived what had been done to her. "Thinking about what?" He asked after a moment or so as he started to remove his hands from her face only to be stopped by her hands gripping his wrists lightly.

"You're hands are really warm..." Eve said in a drowsy tone as Giles blushed a little bit. She smiled and let his wrists slip from her grasp and closed her eyes again as she said. "I really like your hands..."

Giles flushed a bit more and started stammering, unsure of how to react to Eve's words. Not that it mattered any. The blasted girl had managed to doze off again.


	8. Chapter 8

The next time Eve woke up, it was sometime after four p.m and the doctor had just left after coming in to tell Giles that he was going to let her go home. But due to her memory loss and such she would have to be watched closely. There was no point in releasing her if she was only going to get hurt again due to neglect.

Giles agreed with him there, understanding the dangers of leaving her to her own vices better than anyone then called Joyce at work to inform her of the doctor's decision.

Giles had been on the phone with Joyce for almost thirty minutes when he noticed that Eve's eyes were open and she was sitting up in bed looking around as if she couldn't remember where she was. Her hair was tousled, her expression blank as she pushed back the covers on the bed and got up.

Thinking that she was only going to the bathroom he looked away and turned his back, his attention shifting back to her mother who was still on the phone with him.

"Ah, forgive me Joyce but Eve- What? Oh yes, since she can't recall who she is she gave herself a new name and Eve is what she chose... Well I know that it isn't really her name but she dislikes being called Buffy at the moment. And the doctor said that she would need to figure things out on her own. A new name is just part of the deal-"

" Please Joyce, Eve is awake and there is still much to do... Oh. _Oh_ you're working late? _No, no, no_. Don't worry about anything I can keep Eve occupied." Giles said as he glanced towards the bed and noticed that Eve was missing and the locker where he'd put the dress that Joyce had brought by earlier, was open the door slightly ajar, and paled a little bit in horror.

_Oh dear lord-_ "Joyce I need to go." He said hurriedly before hanging up the phone and running out of the room to see if he could find her while he pulled out his cell and dialed Xander's number.

(***********************************************************************************************************************************************************)

Xander was in the middle of a fantastic rant. Really he was. Willow, Oz and Cordy were all staring at him wide eyed with expressions ranging from awe, to shock and disbelief when sudden in the middle of his rant the song from the movie Titanic started playing.

And everything just seemed to freeze as Xander turned red and reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone and looked at Cordy. "The Titanic song!"

Cordy shrugged. "I like that song."

Xander opened his mouth to tell her that having that particular song playing on his cell didn't do him any favors in trying to establish that he wasn't gay department. But the insistant playing and replaying of _that_ damned song was pulling at some corner of his mind.

Probably the corner that screamed, _Important! Answer! _

_Ohhh_, his girl was getting off so easy right now. Glaring at Cordy for a moment longer he then checked the number calling him and blinked when he saw Gile's cell number and upon going through some scenario's in his mind, quickly flipped the cell open and answered. "Giles, what's wrong?"

_"Well it's about bloody time you answered." _Came Gile's almost snappish, breathless tone. _"We have a very big, very bad problem. Eve is missing!" _

"Uh...ok. Who's Eve and why should we be worried that she's missing?"

_"Oh damn it all Xander! Buffy is Eve. Buffy is the one missing!" _Xander opened his mouth to ask how the hell the watcher had lost the slayer when he was supposed to be watching her every move, but he snapped his mouth closed figuring that the Brit's pride was stinging enough without him flinging the current situation back in his face.

Besides Xander was a little afraid of what Giles would do to him if he did say something about the current situation to the man. God knows he'd made that mistake before...six or seven times...

Sure, Giles seemed like nothing but the nerdy, bookish fellow with good manners he appeared to be- But Xander could still recall having words with the man about Buffy at some point over the summer and being dragged outside where Giles then tried to back over him in his dinky little car!

So asking the man anything like, _What the fuck were you doing? Or thinking?_ Was totally out of the question. At least if he wanted to make it through the next school year _intact_ anyways.

Giggling nervously and hating himself for it, Xander asked. "What do you need us to do?"

_"I need you, Willow, Oz and Cordelia to help locate her before something happens to her. I'm on the street close to the hospital and will be taking Chessapeak Lane. I need you to split into groups of two and head in different directions. How fast can you get here?" _

Xander looked at the others and noticed how oddly silent everyone was as Willow mouthed, _"What's wrong?"_ All Xander could think was- What wasn't wrong?

But he told Giles that they would start looking and he'd pass the new name info on to the others then hung up and looked at the three again and gave another nervous giggle.

Oh god these three were going to freak when they found out that Buffy was missing.


	9. Chapter 9

Turns out that Xander hadn't been far from the mark, he thought as Oz drove his van towards the hospital that Buff- er Eve had been in, in the hopes that they would spot the girl before she got herself hurt or into trouble.

"Is that her?" Cordie asked from the back of the van. Xander turned his head and glanced at her and Willow then glanced out of the window and blinked before responding.

"She's a red head Cordie. Buffy- er Eve- _dammit!_ I've got to stop doing that. Anyways Eve is a brunette."

"Ew a brunette-" Cordie started to say as Oz glanced at her through his rear view mirror. His normally bluish green eyes glowing slightly in annoyance as Cordie continued. "I knew she had to have been dying her hair. No one can have hair like hers and be a _natural_ blonde."

"Will you focus please?" Willow snapped in irritation, silencing Cordie's gibberish. Her best friend was missing dammit! And without a memory of _who_ she was or _what_ she was- She could get into some serious trouble so they needed to find her _fast_.

(************************************************************************************************************************************************)

Eve slowly made her way down the sidewalk, completely oblivious to the chaos she had stirred up as she looked at everything with the open curiosity of a child. _So this was what the world was like before the fall of man... _It was all bright and had lush greenery that she had to stop and lean down at the waist to run her hands over. Giggling at the softness of the grass she straightened her spine and continued walking until...

She saw something that she had only seen once before- flowers. Several different kinds. Red and pink and yellow and white and orange. Ranging from lilies of the valley to daisies. And inbeteen was a little nestle of peonies and roses.

Giggling like a little girl, Eve flopped down on the lush green grass next to the flowers and plucked two leaves from one of the many stems and held them up in her hands and held herself perfectly still. As if to say, '_Look! I'm a flower too!' _and giggled again. She did this for a while.

Ignoring anyone who happened to walk past her and look at her strangely when she saw a dark colored van heading down the road in her direction, as an old mustang came tearing around the corner across from her, and was puzzled when both skidded to a stop and various people jumped out and ran over to her. Recognizing Giles and the two who looked like her best friends, Eve smiled at them even as she was snatched up and hauled to her feet by the closest one, Xander? And looked over for any wounds.

"Eve? Eve, are you okay?" He asked, his dark eyes concerned as he alternated between hugging her, running his hands along her arms, and shaking her a little bit before he hugged her again.

"I'm fine-" She finally said as soon as her confusion over their reactions faded. She held up one of the flowers that she'd been sheltering in her hand for them to see and smiled as she said excitedly, "Look! Flowers! Have you ever seen anything so pretty before?"

Xander opened his mouth to say something when Oz stepped forward. "Yeah they're pretty, but you shouldn't pick them-" Eve looked at him and for a moment that may have simply been a trick of the light, her eyes glowed green.

"Why? Will they wither and die like before?"

"Yeah. That's sort of what flowers do when you pick them." Willow said with a small smile.

"Even if you use your own life energy to keep them as they are?" Eve asked innocently, everyone in the group blinked at her. Seemingly not understanding what she meant. Mentally sighing she decided to show them what she meant since they had forgotten. Holding the one flower up in her hand where they could all see it, her eyes flashed an eerie glowing green again as the flower in her hand started to levitate, it's petals glowing a soft blue that flashed with purple and pink.

She was agout to freeze it in time forever when a big hand snagged her wrist, the fingertips biting into her skin painfully as her arm was jerked up, forcing her to drop the flower. Gasping she looked up into the furious eyes of the person who was hurting her wrist and saw the eyes of Ripper staring down at her.

To say that giles was shaken by what had just occurred was an understatment. Buffy had been using magic. And not just any magic, but ancient magic. The same kind that had created the first slayer. Shaking slightly and trying to hide it from the others, he turned and ordered them to all leave. Making the excuse that he had to take Eve back to the hospital, which wasn't necessarily true since they had planned to discharge her today anyways.

Xander and Willow and Oz had wanted to argue, they were the only ones with the common sense too bother, but even they gave up when he gave them the _I-will-smite-you_ look. Leaving Giles alone to take Eve somewhere where he could figure out how she had come into contact with such power.

And possibly gain some answers about what was wrong with his slayer in the process.


	10. Chapter 10

"Ripper." Eve said in a tone of total admiration and reverence as she smiled up at him. Giles mind blanked for a moment as he studied her face, her expression. She looked so innocent. As if she did and didn't know why he was called 'Ripper' at the same time. It was disturbing to say the least. Even more so with the others standing right there- watching every exchange.

Swallowing past the lump in his thoat, he glanced as Oz and the others and gave quick instructions for them to leave and meet him back at his house later. After school. Hopefully when he had a better idea of what he was dealing with.

Xander and Willow both looked like they wanted to protest- afraid that Buffy- er, Eve would disappear again if she wasn't watched carefully. But in the end they gave up on whatever arguments were hanging on the tips of their tongues and grabbed Oz and Cordi and got back in the van after promising to meet back with him after school.

Then left.

Giles watched them drive away until they were well out of sight, his grip on Eve's wrist tightening a little bit from anxiety before he released his hold on her and said in his most authoritive tone, "Get in the car Eve. We're going to leave now."

Eve tipped her head back and looked at him, then looked back at the flowers with a look that could only be described as _hungry _or _wanting_, then asked. "Can I bring a flower or two with me?"

Giles/Ripper mulled over the simple request as he narrowed his eyes at her.

He could still feel the steady hum of power in the air around her, and knowing it was there made it easy to deny her her request. At least for the moment. Eve's expression became shuttered and she sighed and looked longingly back at the flower bed then back to him as he was climbing into his car.

To be honest, she knew why he had said no to the flowers. He had made it perfectly clear on a number of occassions that she wasn't to use her life energy to prolong the life of anything. Because using the magicks to do so may very well take years off of her life. But being who she was, she used the magic quite often to heal, repair and prolong a lot of things.

She simply couldn't help herself.

And the spell had never appeared to have any adverse affects before. Sighing again she walked over to the passenger side of Giles car and climbed in and nearly jumped out of her skin when he reached across her and tugged some sort of binding and fastened it in place with a click before he bothered to move the vehicle.

_Dear god, this girl tries my patience._ Giles thought. "You should always buckle up when in a car Eve. For safety's sake-" He said as he glanced over at her as she pulled and tugged and even at one point during the drive started to chew on the seat belt before saying with a frown, "But maybe you don't recall any of that."

Eve stopped chewing on the seat belt after a moment or so and let it drop away from her mouth with a muttered, "Bleh. This thing tastes funny. Like decaying demon flesh."

It was on the tip of his tongue to say, _"Good god have you been eating demon flesh?"_ When he noticed that she grasped the belt in a white knuckled grip on it with both hands. As if she were afraid that it was going to strangle her or something if she didn't hold onto it. Forgetting his question for the moment he took a hand off of the wheel, and reached over and pried one of her hands free and held it in his own.

"The seat belt isn't going to hurt you-" He said gently, trying to calm her obviously frayed nerves as he pulled into the drive way of his home and parked the car then reached down and with another clicking sound- set her free. "And now you can get out of the car." He said as he unfastened his own seat belt and quickly opened the door and climbed out of the car then closed the door and stood expectantly with his arms crossed over his chest...waiting for her to follow.

Eve looked out of the front window at him, then ducked down in the seat and glared at him, making Giles sigh and swear as he walked around to her side of the car and open the door for her. "Come along Eve."

"No."

"Excuse me, but did you just say no?"

"You're not deaf Ripper."

"My name is Giles. Not Ripper. Now please, come out of there." Giles said, trying to remain calm and indifferent to the fact that she kept calling him by his former name. But Eve apparently had some other ideas in mind. Some very peculiar ideas.

She turned her body towards him and gave him a sweet smile then demanded a kiss from him if he wanted her out of the car. Giles eyes widened as he flushed and sputtered. Good god, no!

He couldn't touch his slayer! Not like she wanted him too. It was like defiling a holy relic or something. It just wasn't done. Eve held her arms out to him as a look that reminded him of a lost child's seeking the warmth and comfort of one of it's parents, crossed her face. _Buffy- _His slayer. She was suffering and trying to make sense of the reason why. He knew it, could feel it in his heart and soul.

And as wrong as it was, he wanted to help her even if it lasted for just one brief moment in time. Feeling his moral resolve waver he stepped in close to her, crowding her smaller body as her arms wrapped around his neck, and lightly- very lightly- as if he were handling fragile glass, he brushed his lips across hers and jerked slightly when he felt a sharp jolt of lust that nearly sent him to his knees.

Groaning he palmed the back of Eve's head and pulled it so that it rested against the crook of his shoulder as he slipped his arms around her slender body and lifted her up out of the car.


End file.
